


Adaptive Colouration

by Jewel2065



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 11:20:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11184042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jewel2065/pseuds/Jewel2065
Summary: Nora takes SynthShaun from the Institute. Maybe she should have thought this one through.





	Adaptive Colouration

**Adaptive Colouration  
By Jewel**

 

"Whisper! Wait up...!" Tom's lanky frame bobbed up from behind the console as he twisted about trying to spot her in the sea of people moving into the teleporter. Spotting her, he grinned "Whisper! This kid just showed up saying he's your boy!" He looked utterly delighted to be able to present her missing child to her – a gift, a thank-you for all the interesting things she had brought to him over the past few months.

Nora looked back over her shoulder, eyes widening. She was almost relieved when she saw SynthShaun rather than the tall old man she had expected.

"Of course," she said, tiredly, resignedly, "Of course you're coming with me." She smiled, a pale, fake thing but the little synth didn't seem to see the difference. He just stepped up beside her into the teleporter, his expression one of excited interest in the adventure he was about to have.

Shaun stood behind her on the roof as she slammed her hand down on the detonator that destroyed the only home he had ever known.

He travelled with the Railroad agents back to their base to wait his mom's return once her work was done.

He was a cute kid, charming and curious and very swiftly wormed his way into the affections of the Railroad agents who guarded him. 

No-one tried to keep him contained. He was allowed to use the computers – to play games, of course – and met PAM.

The Railroad's computers failed abruptly on the second afternoon after the Institute died. Less than five minutes later, PAM stepped out of her room and opened fire, slaughtering the surprised agents in seconds. She self-destructed just moments after the last agent fell, and the final Railroad HQ burned just as the Institute had burned.

At Sanctuary, no-one noticed as a small boy wriggled through a tiny gap in the fence and trotted across the compound. He was a smart kid, and Mother had brought X6 here on one occasion. He slipped inside and waited patiently until he heard the door opening.

Mother entered quietly, dropping a pack by the door and moved to the kitchen area, running water into the sink. Over the sound of the water she didn't hear the quiet steps behind her – she only felt the sudden pain as a sharp knife slammed into her right kidney and ripped upwards. As she collapsed, the knife pulled free and plunged down into her neck.

Shaun stared down at Mother, unblinking. Then he dropped the knife and quietly slipped away into the darkness. Tomorrow, he would be at Abernathy Farm, begging the kindly folk there for a few crusts of bread in exchange for labour. His predictive model showed that they would take him in and raise him as their own.

In a few short years, Shaun would be an adult, able to take up a role with the Minutemen and from there, leadership of the Commonwealth.

That's the thing about synths which the Railroad had never understood: They are not human; they are programmed machines that only look human. This one just happened to house the full memory transfer of Father – a man who had survived a childhood as an Institute experiment, had studied diligently, and had ruthlessly engineered his ascendance to Director. Mother had never really questioned what plan he was following when he released her from Vault 111 – and nor did his Institute colleagues, who had delighted in creating his clone to his own design specifications. 

The pain and deprivation of his childhood was avenged. His children – hundreds of them now – were free in the Commonwealth, already infiltrating all areas of society, ready to form the basis of Shaun's own Utopia. He had a fully operational base beneath Warwick; and soon he would have the Minutemen to serve as his footsoldiers. His ambition was limitless and his lifespan was near-infinite since if one body failed he would simply download himself into a replacement. Soon enough his footsoldiers would begin moving out into other regions of the continent.

There were variables, of course, but that was the nature of any experiment, particularly one on such a huge scale as this one. 

He smiled contentedly. Someday, many years into the future, he would reach for the stars.


End file.
